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A Plowable Snowstorm all the way to New York City For cities like New York and Pittsburgh, this could be the biggest snowstorm of the season so far. The storm has produced 3 inches of snow across Chicago Friday morning, resulting in over 200 flights to be canceled and extensive travel delays in and around the city. Gusty winds led to delays around New York City Friday, ahead of the storm. The storm is still the development stages and only will grow stronger later tonight and Saturday causing heavier snow to develop. People across the southern Ohio Valley could experience...

Bolstered in part by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s spending, the average New York City employee cost the city $107,000 a year in wages, health insurance, pension and other benefits in the 2008 fiscal year, an increase of 63 percent since 2000, according to a new report. City worker compensation grew twice as fast as that of employees in the private sector and elsewhere in the public sector during the same period, the Citizens Budget Commission said in the report, which was released on Thursday. The increase was driven by contractual raises that outpaced the inflation rate, and by the rising...

The new Alan Colmes-less Hannity premieres Monday with frequent Fox News guest Al Sharpton filling the liberal seat on Sean Hannity's newly christened "Great American Panel." Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) will fill the seat on the right. (And she should have plenty to talk about given the Senate dispute in her state between Al Franken and Norm Coleman.) The X-factor on the panel: Meatloaf. Monday's show will include a sit-down with George W. Bush. Hannity will conduct the interview Friday at the White House. Hannity will employ a rotating panel in lieu of a permanent ideological counterpoint. The show will...

Katzenberg, who was not specific about the size of his losses, said it was a "disgrace" that Madoff was currently free on bail adding that his own losses have done "extraordinary damage" to his philanthropic efforts. "The first time I heard the name Bernie Madoff was about three weeks ago," he said. "What it has done to other people is terrible. It's destroyed many people's lives. People that I know." Madoff, 70, a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, was arrested by the FBI on December 11 and charged with securities fraud after he allegedly told senior executives at...

The ethics investigation into House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel still is not done — despite promises from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rangel is being investigated in at least four areas — including his failure to report income taxes on a Caribbean villa and the use of rent-controlled apartments in New York. Pelosi said in November, "The report will be completed by the end of this session... which concludes January 3, 2009." The Hill newspaper reports the investigation will be further delayed because the ethics committee is currently without a chairman. the House voted Tuesday to eliminate term limits...

CORNING, NY--Newly sworn-in congressman Eric Massa (D) tried to make a splash earlier this week by trumpeting his trip to the capitol in a hydrogen-powered car: [T]he 282 mile journey in a GM Electric Fuel Cell Equinox went off without a hitch. Massa took this zero emission, hydrogen powered vehicle [from Corning] to Washington to highlight sustainable energy technology. The vehicle was primarily researched and developed in Honeoye Falls, part of New York's 29th Congressional District. "I'm here to be the voice of the families of New York's 29th Congressional District and help take this country in a better direction,"...

Although most of the nation's governors and mayors will have their hands out, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already sent Congress a detailed plan for how he'll spend their money. Just call it two-part harmony -- President-elect Barack Obama wants to be the infrastructure president. "At this particular moment only government can provide the short-term boost to lift us from a recession this deep and this severe," Obama said Thursday. And Bloomberg wants to be the infrastructure mayor. He's even got a detailed plan. The city has billions of projects that are all set and ready just waiting for Congress to...

After intense criticism, the Bloomberg administration has given up a perk it worked fervently to secure: a free luxury suite at the new Yankee Stadium. The city’s acquisition of the Yankees suite had drawn scrutiny, especially after e-mail messages surfaced in November showing that aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had zealously pursued the luxury box, as well as free food and access to post-season games. Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Queens Democrat who publicly demanded that the city give up the suite, said, “This is something that they never should have negotiated in the first place.” “And,” he added,...

<p>The man who accidentally ran over John Gotti's young son was allegedly dumped in a vat of acid by a twisted Gambino hit man.</p> <p>Charles Carneglia, 62, who is awaiting trial for five Mafia murders, once boasted of his sick specialty in a tutorial for a turncoat would-be mobster, explaining "that acid was the best method to use to avoid detection," according to court papers filed yesterday.</p>

<p>Realtor to the stars Linda Stein had it coming, suspect Natavia Lowery told prosecutors in a chilling taped murder confession revealed for the first time today.</p> <p>"She has never, never, never treated me like this!" the pretty personal assistant fumed to prosecutors in the tape.</p>

The New York Police Department is looking for ways to disrupt cell phone calls and other forms of electronic communication among terrorists in the event of another terror attack in New York, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says. The need to disrupt communications is one of several conclusions that the NYPD has drawn from studying the November attack in Mumbai, India, a three-day rampage by machine gun and grenade-wielding Islamic militants in which at least 165 people were killed and 304 were wounded. Kelly is scheduled to discuss this and other "lessons learned" in testimony Thursday before the Senate Committee on...

Uber conservative political commentator and author, Ann Coulter, is drumming up controversy among the masses with her new book Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault on America. The gist of her book? Liberals "playing victim" when she believes them to be the actual "victimizers." With anything Coulter has her hand in, this latest installment is sure to get tempers flaring, especially among single mothers. Monday night Coulter appeared on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes. Tuesday morning Coulter made a controversial appearance on NBC's Today Show (after her originally scheduled appearance was cancelled.) In both appearances, Coulter's lastest stabs at...

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print . . . But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? It’s certainly plausible. -- End Times, by Michael Hirschorn, The Atlantic, January/February 2009 [emphasis added] The prospect of the disappearance of the New York Times within a matter of months will bring wildly varying reactions in different quarters. Those gleefully anticipating...

<p>I'm honored to be the guest for entire hour on the debut broadcast of a new conservative radio show in the New York City area this evening hosted by Patrick Gibson on WVOX-AM 1460.</p> <p>Listen live online by going to the bottom of the page at the WVOX website.</p>

Governor Paterson just finished up his first State of the State speech, reminding attendees of his favorite theme—fiscal calamity—and averred that “the state of our state is perilous.” In contrast to speeches of years past in better times, Mr. Paterson laid out relatively few new initiatives that would come at any substantial cost. In terms of economic development, his calls for new revenue for projects were confined to the federal government, asking Congress to pass a stimulus package “by the end of the month.” He devoted much of his speech to issues of energy, asking for an "energy revolution" that...

Caroline Appointment: Mitchell Mimics Maureen in Mocking Al D'Amato By Mark Finkelstein | January 7, 2009 - 15:19 Does Maureen Dowd moonlight at MSNBC as Andrea Mitchell's [file photo] writer? Here's how for, purposes of defending Caroline Kennedy in her NYT column today, Dowd mocked former New York Republican Senator Al D'Amato [emphasis added]: [B]elieve me, she talks a whole lot better than the former junior senator from New York, Al D’Amato, who once wailed that he was “up to my earballs” in some mess, and another time complained to me that those “little Jappies” bring over boats full of...

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, 73, has been diagnosed with cancer. According to a statement from his consulting firm, Kemp Partners, doctors are still testing Kemp before determining a course of treatment. “Mr. Kemp and his family are grateful for the thoughts and prayers of friends and appreciate respect for their privacy at this time,” read a statement from his spokeswoman Bona Park. Kemp has been calling friends and political associates to inform them of the news, a well-connected Republican said. The Republican said Kemp has told friends that he went to the doctor complaining of pain but...

Electronic unemployment systems in at least three states crashed under the crush of thousands of new claims from unemployed Americans. Along with having trouble keeping up with online filings, state unemployment centers are also swamped with telephone inquiries. The situation has an upside though, some states are hiring workers to deal with the increased workload created by other people losing a job. New York, North Carolina and Ohio ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission's New York watchdog, under fire for failing to uncover Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme - despite a dead-on tip by a whistleblower - yesterday tearfully defended herself, arguing that she and the agency did the best job possible. "Why are you taking a mid-level staff person and making me responsible for the failure of the American economy?" an upset Meaghan Cheung, with eyes tearing up, told The Post. "I worked very hard for 10 years to make a career, and a reputation, and that has been destroyed in a month," said Cheung, who...

A 2010 showdown between Rep. Peter King and Hillary Clinton's Senate successor took another step toward reality yesterday as the Long Island Congressman had a favorable meeting with GOP leaders. Caroline Kennedy Through the Years View Gallery Have a look at Caroline Kennedy through the years as she launches her campaign for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat. The 63-year-old King (R-Seaford) had a sitdown with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn and received his blessing for a potential 2010 run, Politico reported today. "Senator Cornyn believes Peter King would be a very formidable candidate. He believes the seat...

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. The thinking goes that the existing brands—The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal—will be the ones making that transition, challenged but still dominant as...

UPDATED - ALERT - Frightening Text Messages Being Forwarded Around NY Jews January 2, 2009 3:00PM EST: [UPDATE BELOW] With the situation in Gaza deteriorating by the day, and anti-semitism rampant around the world, thousands of NY Jews were frightened upon receiving the following text message which has been going around on Friday afternoon: “A Jewish woman gave a tip to a Muslim taxi driver and out of appreciation he warned her not to go to Manhattan next week Wednesday.” YWN has reached out to high-ranking members of the NYPD, and have stated that although they received the same text...

WEEKDAY AT BERNIE'S By ANGELA MONTEFINISE January 4, 2009 -- Welcome to Ponzi purgatory. Every day, dozens of employees of swindler Bernard Madoff's firm report to their Midtown offices. They're still paid - but they do no work. PHOTOS: Madoff On Ebay The phones at Madoff Securities are turned off. The few computers that remain aren't plugged in. "It's pretty bad," one employee said. "We can't conduct any business. We basically get there at 9, hang around, and go home at 5. It's surreal. It's also scary, because we don't know what's going on. "We're basically just sitting around and...

For faithful Roman Catholics, the thought of yet another pro-choice Kennedy positioned to campaign for the unlimited right to abortion is discouraging. Yet if Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of Catholics John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton, abortion-rights advocates will have just such a champion. Ms. Kennedy was so concerned to assure pro-abortion leaders in New York, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Dec. 18, that on the same day Ms. Kennedy telephoned New York Gov. David Patterson to declare interest in the Senate seat, "one of her...

The price of gasoline is low, but in Rochester and across Western New York, drivers pay more for gas than elsewhere. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter wants to know why. The Democrat from Fairport is sending letters to the heads of Sunoco, Citgo, and ExxonMobil, seeking answers. Rep. Slaughter said that on January 2nd, gas was selling at the Sunoco station on Culver Road for $1.88. In New Jersey and Massachusetts, Slaughter drivers were paying $1.45 and $1.60, respectively. According to AAA, the average price for gasoline nationwide was $1.67 on Thursday. In Rochester, the average is $1.78.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Vic Scuderi is loaded with weaponry. His booth is stocked full of customers who are looking to wipe out his arsenal of firearms. It's business he won't shoot down. "I've probably seen a 25 percent increase in sales from last year," said Scuderi. While the economy may be wounded, gun dealers say sales are exploding at the annual Arms Fair at the City Center in Saratoga Springs. "This is my best show ever. I've sold more ammunition and more magazines than I've ever sold, so in that regard it's been a very good show for me,"...

ALBANY, N.Y. – Four hospitals in New York state paid kickbacks to get more patients into their drug treatment programs, which billed Medicaid for services that weren't standard or necessary and lacked state certification, lawsuits allege. Another hospital paid people to search homeless shelters and other places for patients to enter a three-day stay in detox in exchange for cigarettes, beer, food, and other items, according to the lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell. The lawsuits allege those five hospitals and two others fraudulently billed Medicaid for more than $50 million in more...

NEW YORK – A prosecutor on Monday asked that Bernard Madoff be jailed pending trial, saying the disgraced financier violated an agreement with the court by mailing watches, jewelry, cufflinks and mittens worth more than $1 million to relatives and friends. "The defendant's recent actions amount to obstruction of justice," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis at an hour-long bail hearing. The prosecutor said one package of items that was accompanied by a handwritten note from Madoff may alone be worth more than $1 million.

SHOCK POLL: Kennedy Trailing Cuomo Huge Public Policy Polling Shows Princess Of Camelot Losing Grip On New Yorkers, Falls Behind 20 Points Among Dems NEW YORK (CBS) ― Caroline Kennedy appears to be losing momentum in her bid for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat. A new survey conducted by Public Policy Polling shows 58 percent of voters would prefer to see Gov. David Paterson appoint state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to the seat. That's compared to Kennedy's 27 percent. Among Democratic voters, Cuomo leads by about 20 points. That's about the same lead Kennedy enjoyed just a month earlier. This...

The big headline story recently has been Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s “play for pay” scandal relating to the president-elect’s vacant Senate seat. We’ve also been watching money scandals surrounding other Democrats such as Charlie Rangel and William Jefferson, to name but a few. It now appears by way of the New York Times that they are not alone in violating ethics. Add Hillary Clinton to the list. The next secretary of state did a huge favor for a developer who contributed thousands to her campaign and her husband's library....

By swindling clients out of up to $50 billion, hedge fund manager Bernard L. Madoff has hurt -- and in some cases fatally wounded -- scores of nonprofit groups and charitable foundations. Through his Social Security-like Ponzi scheme that paid older investors with incoming funds from newer investors, Madoff, a heavy donor to Democratic candidates, also did irreparable harm to the liberal and far-left causes he loves. At least two major left-leaning charities are closing their doors as a direct consequence of the record-breaking fraud. The giant Picower Foundation had the misfortune to choose Madoff to manage its more than...

As Mata wrote about here, Bill Richardson was jettisoned from the Obama camp because of another “pay to play” scheme. But there is another one coming down the pike and this one involves the Clintons. I know…big shocker! Apparently in October of 2004 Hillary pushed through some bond legislation that allowed a developer named Robert Congel to use tax-exempt bonds to help construct an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse called the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex.So what you say? Well, the next month a hundred grand shows up as a donation to the Clinton Foundation.

Katie Holmes has singlehandedly come to the rescue of New York's economy, spending £10 million in the city since she moved there six months ago, it has been claimed. Katie Holmes has reportedly spent a reported £9,600 on child care and taking Suri Cruise. The actress arrived in the New York in July to appear on Broadway in the Arthur Miller play, All My Sons. She is living in a Manhattan apartment owned by her husband Tom Cruise and has become a regular fixture on the city's social circuit. As well as regularly frequenting the city's best restaurants, Holmes is...

NEW YORK The New York Times began selling front-page display ads, a first for the paper. CBS placed the ad this morning, which runs along the bottom, in color and about two inches high. The paper has sold small-classified liners on the front page prior to this move, but decided to sell display ads in such a desirable position because of declining advertising revenue. The New York Times' Richard Perez-Pena reports the paper will only sell front-page ads below the fold. Ad revenue throughout the industry has been plunging. The Times has been selling front-page section ads for the past...

The 110th U.S. Congress has formally adjourned for the year without a conclusion to an ethics probe of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, contrary to a November prediction by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi... Rangel, D-N.Y., is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee in at least four areas, including his reported failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa in the Dominican Republic; use of four, rent-controlled apartments in Harlem; questions about an off-shore firm asking Rangel for special tax exemptions; and whether Rangel improperly used House stationary to solicit donations for a school of...

Vacancy rates in office buildings exceed 10 percent in virtually every major city across the United States and are rising rapidly, a sign of economic distress that could lead to yet another wave of problems for the beleaguered financial sector. With job cuts rampant and businesses retrenching, more empty space is expected from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles in the coming year. Rental income would then decline and property values would slide further. The Urban Land Institute predicts 2009 will be the worst year for the U.S. commercial real estate market "since the wrenching 1991-1992 industry depression." Banks...

You had to look hard amid the four-foot floral sculptures and the Vera Wang originals to see signs of the economy’s collapse at the International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria on Monday night. There was the daughter of the Duchesse de Magenta, Pélagie de Mac Mahon, a willowy 18-year-old with chestnut hair who is a great-great-granddaughter of a 19th-century French president. And there were the two sisters from Hong Kong, daughters of a heart surgeon and a jewelry designer, who stayed not two nights but two weeks at the Waldorf, passing the days on the lookout for designer dresses. Champagne...

WASHINGTON: A developer in New York state donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton's foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman's mall project. Hillary Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse. She also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction. The bill with the tax-free...

As the nation braces for Democrats to take unbridled control of the federal government, some lessons about how big a mistake that really is are already coming to light. Just as no non-union manufacturer is asking for a government bailout, only Democrat run states are begging for federal funds to avoid the inevitable bankruptcy of the states they have run into the ground. In addition to Bush's trillion dollar nationalization of the financial industry, and in addition to Barack Obama's trillion dollar "stimulus package" (aka affirmative action welfare initiative), another trillion dollars in new national debt is being demanded by...

WASHINGTON — An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.

STEINEM TOUTS KENNEDY FOR NY SEAT - IN HOUSE By BRENDAN SCOTT in Albany and MAGGIE HABERMAN in New York January 3, 2009 -- Feminist icon Gloria Steinem yesterday said Gov. Paterson should appoint Rep. Carolyn Maloney to the Senate - and ask Caroline Kennedy to run for Maloney's House seat instead of the Senate. Maloney, 60, who represents Manhattan's East Side and part of Queens, has been quietly pushing her case for the seat being vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton even as Kennedy, 51, has received more attention. Steinem put forth her idea, unsolicited, as Maloney was honored...

A donorÂ’s gift soon followed ClintonÂ’s help $100,000 donation highlights ethics issues with links to foundations By CHARLIE SAVAGE WASHINGTON - An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill ClintonÂ’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessmanÂ’s mall project. Mrs. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert J. Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse. Mrs. Clinton also helped secure...

Filmmaker George Butler wants his friends to know he's very much alive, despite a premature obituary on "The Charlie Rose Show" this week. During Rose's annual New Year's Eve tribute on PBS to notable figures who died during the year, he included Butler, whose 1977 film "Pumping Iron" featured a then-unknown bodybuilder named Arnold Schwarzenegger. The screen even flashed a Butler tombstone, 1943-2008. The PBS show had confused him with another George Butler, a longtime jazz record executive who signed Wynton Marsalis, who died April 9. snip- Rose, who did not immediately respond to e-mail messages seeking comment, apologized at...

January 2, 2009 Workers Ordered to Give Up City-Owned Cars By MICHAEL BARBARO Economic hard times are about to hit New York City’s employees where it hurts: in their driveways. As the Bloomberg administration scrambles to cut spending, it is ordering city agencies like the police, parks and health departments to give up nearly 700 city-owned cars, a cherished perk for their workers. The move would save $20 million over the next two years, according to a copy of the memorandum sent to city agencies. The decision to sell off scores of Toyota Prius cars and Ford Escape sport utility...

On April 21, 2008, Representative Charles B. Rangel met with officials of the American International Group, the now-troubled insurance giant, to ask for a donation to a school of public service that City College of New York was building in his honor. Mr. Rangel had already helped secure a $5 million pledge for the project from a foundation controlled by Maurice R. Greenberg, one of the company’s largest shareholders and its former chief executive. And C.C.N.Y. officials, according to the school’s own records, had high hopes for A.I.G. — a donation of perhaps as much as $10 million.

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues. Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states...

Five Democratic governors are asking the federal government for a $1 trillion bailout package, including $250 billion for education and $150 billion in middle class tax cuts. The governors from Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio on Friday said they have presented their plan to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team as well as congressional leaders. They said that level of federal aid is needed to deal with unprecedented state budget shortfalls in 41 states and Washington, D.C., that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pegged at $42 billion for the current fiscal year alone. Wisconsin Gov. Jim...

New York, NY (AHN) - More Americans are seeing their psychotherapists with financial stress as the most common emotional issue brought out. Experts attributed the growing epidemic of anger, anxiety and emotional stress to the worsening economic climate gripping the U.S.As a result, according to the October American Psychological Association survey, 83 percent of U.S. women and 78 percent of men were going through increasing stress over job security, housing problems and the shrinkage of their retirement funds. For women, money issues had emerged as their top concern, eclipsing personal health worries. Within six months, worries about the economy among...

Pressure mounts over replacement for Clinton By Harvey Morris in New York Published: January 2 2009 19:45 | Last updated: January 2 2009 19:45 Facing one of the most nail-biting choices since the presidential election, David Paterson, the New York governor, has been told he would be guilty of “political malpractice” if he named anyone other than Caroline Kennedy as the state’s new junior representative in the Senate. Mr Paterson, under intense pressure from some of the country’s most powerful political dynasties as he ponders his decision, has sole discretion to appoint a replacement for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who...

A group of private investors agreed today to buy IndyMac Bank, the Pasadena specialist in exotic home loans that collapsed in July and became the third-largest bank to fail since the government began insuring deposits in 1934. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which has run IndyMac since its collapse, said the bank would be purchased by IMB Management Holdings, a New York-based partnership led by buyout expert J. Christopher Flowers, hedge-fund operator John Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, chairman of private equity firm Dune Capital Management. IMB Management Holdings and the investor group will inject about $1.3 billion in new capital...